Kazakhstan's ex-leader rejects reports that he fled abroad

Kazakhstan’s influential former leader has released a short video in which he talked about the violent unrest that engulfed the ex-Soviet nation earlier this month

MOSCOW -- Kazakhstan's influential former leader released a short video on Tuesday in which he talked about the violent unrest that engulfed the ex-Soviet nation earlier this month and rejected reports alleging that he fled the country amid tensions with the current president.

It was the first time that Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ran Kazakhstan for 29 years after it gained independence and kept an influential post after stepping down as president in 2019, spoke publicly about the protests and the bloodshed they descended into.

Nazarbayev also denied that there were tensions between him and his hand-picked successor, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Some speculated that a rift between the two could have played a role in exacerbating the unrest.

Protests in Kazakhstan, an oil and gas-rich nation of 19 million in Central Asia, began on Jan. 2 in a small western town over the near-doubling of fuel prices. But they quickly spread across the vast country, growing into a general protest against the authoritarian government and turning into violent riots that killed over 220 people.